Where the Sky Meets the Sea
by Literary Eagle
Summary: A goddess and a princess face an uncertain future.


Hi everyone! To understand this fic, please note that sections with quotation marks "like this" are spoken/thought by Sasami, while sections with square brackets [like this] are spoken/thought by Tsunami. Oh yeah, and my proofreader says that you're better off if you don't read too fast.

Please be sure to send your comments and criticism on this fic! Thanks! Also, special thanks go to my proofreader, AleeN.

Legal disclaimer: Tenchi Muyo! and its characters are property of Pioneer and AIC. This story, however, is mine. Please don't sue me, because I'm just writing this for fun. Hey, it's the holiday season, a perfect time for fun! I'm actually not avoiding homework to write this fan fic!

Where the Sky Meets the Sea  
By Literary Eagle

Part 1: "Heaven to ocean"

An endless mystery.  
A hand that can shape the destinies of countless worlds...  
The tale of Tsunami.

[She is dying. The second princess of Jurai's royal family is dying. I can sense the fighting outside. The space pirate Ryoko is causing many deaths out there. All of the Juraians are my children, of course, but there is something about the young princess lying before me that makes the leaves of my tree quiver. There is no breeze, and yet my leaves are trembling, whispering the young one's name. Sasami. Sasami. Sasami.

[Her blood is spilling into the water that surrounds my tree. What is this that I feel? Am I ... crying? How can this be? This has never happened before. Although I have always loved my children, love is not an emotion.

[The battle rages on outside, and yet all I long to do is hold this small child. I must save her. Her hair, her eyes ... they are the same shade as mine. Is this how I would have looked as a child, if I were a real human?

[I will not let you die, little one. You are a very special child, I can feel it. There is much I would like to teach you, but there is also much that I would like to learn from you.

[Your blood has mixed with my tree's water. Now I have cried for the first time. And so I descend from my otherworldly sanctuary and repair your small form, looking to the future and wondering how it will feel once we are fully joined. Is this what it is like when humans look to the horizon, where the sky meets the sea, and wonder what awaits in that intense blueness?]

"What's happening? Where am I? Wait ... who am I? Am I the new Sasami?"

---

Part 2: "Ocean to earth"

"Life on the planet Earth is so much fun! I like being here with big sister Ayeka, 'big brother' Tenchi, Ryo-Oh-Ki, and everyone else! Tenchi tied a swing to one of the trees here, just for me! Sometimes I like to stare at the sky while I swing, so it feels like I'm actually flying, without a spaceship. I like to hold on to Ryo-Oh-Ki when I swing like that, so I can pretend that we're flying together.

"Sometimes when I'm pretending to fly, I imagine that I'm a magical girl, and that Ryo-Oh-Ki is my sidekick. Now that's fun!

"Ryoko flies all the time. Ayeka knows how to use her Jurai powers to fly. Ryo-Oh-Ki is a spaceship, so I guess that she can fly any time she wants. I haven't told Ayeka or anyone else about me and Tsunami yet. I know that there are powers waiting for me to use when I grow up.

"I should feel excited about growing up. What's wrong with me?"

[I never had to learn how to tie my shoes. I was unprepared for the incredible joy that could be felt from mastering this simple task.

[I was never astounded by the height of the largest trees, I had created plenty of them myself.

[I had never daydreamed before. I never had to dream of anything. I had created a race of people, shaped the progress of an empire.

[Such a strange and wonderful thing it can be, to be a child. Such a strange and wonderful thing it can be, to be human.]

---

Part 3: "Earth back to heaven"

"I told Ayeka and the others that I'm not the real Sasami. They didn't turn away from me. They don't hate me.

"I guess I should be happy, but I'm a bit scared, too. What if they like me only because I helped to save Tenchi during the fight with Kagato? Wait, I shouldn't be thinking stuff like that. Ayeka and the others aren't like that.

"I'm still scared, though. What's gonna happen to me when I grow up and become one with Tsunami? Tsunami is my friend, but I don't want to BE her. I like being who I am now. I like being Sasami, even if I'm not the real Sasami.

"I don't care if I don't ever get Tsunami's powers. I just want to be able to make people happy. I just want to be the girl who loved everyone, and whom everyone loved ... loved so much that Tsunami felt that she had to make another after her death.

"I have the original Sasami's memories. I know how she used to pick flowers and give them to anyone she saw. I know that she made everyone smile, like a fairy in some wonderful story. Is it wrong for me to want to continue her story?

"Maybe that's what the problem is. I have scary memories of Sasami dying. I have scary dreams where everyone dies because of me. Sasami's story didn't have a happy ending. Maybe there's no 'happily ever after' this time, either."

[Sasami... I wish that I could simply tell the poor child that she is the real Sasami, but she must learn this herself in order to truly believe it. I believe that when we become one, she will understand.

[I have learned so much from this girl. From her living in the Masaki home, I have begun to see individual faces, rather than simply masses of people. One of those faces, of course, is Tenchi. He is also one of my children, as are Yosho and Ayeka. Once, I always saw all those of Juraian blood, all of my children, equally. But now there are some of them who stir something deep within me that I have never felt before. It is not love, for I have always loved all of my children, and nothing will ever change that.

[Whatever it is, there is no doubt that my children in the Masaki home are special to me. Their friends are also special to me, as are my sister Washu and her daughter, Ryoko. To gaze upon any of them is to feel something almost like what I had felt at the sight of Sasami on that fateful day, seven hundred years ago.

[They also make me feel something else that I have never felt before. Fear. I am afraid, for Lady Tokimi is coming. I fear for all of my children, but I fear for the ones on Earth most of all, and that only increases my fear. For when Tokimi comes, the arrival of chaos and destruction is inevitable. All of my children will have to fight, and the war will be terrible. If ... if I were forced to choose between defending Jurai and defending my children on Earth, if I could not save them all ... I fear that I would choose to save the handful on Earth, and not the millions on Jurai.

[And so I feel something else that is entirely new to me. Shame. I am ashamed, for the being I was seven centuries ago would never have considered placing a few children above all the others.

[And yet, I do not regret what I did for Sasami on that day. I love her. I know that she has helped others, such as Ryoko, to heal. Because of Sasami, I have seen the simple pleasures of life, felt the power of special bonds formed with people that I now see as a wonderful family. But I am also very, very afraid.

[What a painful thing it can be, to be human.]

---

Part 4: "Show me the path engraved by the light"

[Happy birthday, Sasami.]

"Another year, huh?"

[Yes.]

"I can talk to the trees now. I can hear them think."

[Oh?]

"Earth trees aren't like Juraian trees. They're a bit more shy."

[Hmm...]

"Tsunami?"

[Yes?]

"When ... when we assimilate, what happens to ME?"

[I do not know any more than what I have already told you.]

"Well, what will happen to you?"

[I am not completely certain about that, either.]

"Really? Are you scared, Tsunami?"

[Yes, I am.]

"Um, were you ever able to feel scared before ... before me?"

[No.]

"So, you're scared because of my emotions. Because of me. I'm sorry."

[There is no need to apologize. I am glad to have known you. I am glad to share life with you.]

"Tsunami, I never really thanked you for giving me the chance to be Sasami. She was a wonderful person who died too soon."

[...]

"The scary lady from my dreams ... Tokimi ... is she coming?"

[Not yet.]

"When? Before or after we assimilate?"

[I cannot be certain.]

"Trying to see the future has gotten harder for you, hasn't it? I'm really scared, Tsunami."

[There is no shame in being afraid, Sasami. As I said, I am also somewhat apprehensive about what lies in store for us, since I cannot predict everything that will happen to me - to us - once we...]

"Once we reach that far away place on the horizon, where the sky meets the sea?"

[Yes. So you have obtained that memory of mine?]

"Uh-huh. I wish I had a better idea of what's going to happen, and what we should do. I wish there was something like a lighthouse on that horizon."

[Sometimes we have to make our own light.]

"I know. Tsunami ... why are you crying?"

[Because ... because I can. Sasami? Can you hold my hand?]

"Sure."

A little miracle.  
A heart that can move mortals and immortals alike...  
The tale of Sasami.

---

Author's notes: I know that people are going to object to my using the word "human" to describe Sasami. Well, I just wasn't sure that "Juraian" would have had the same impact on readers. I tried using "mortal", but it wasn't working. At any rate, I didn't mean that Juraians were necessarily human in the biological sense.

Actually, I suppose that Juraians have to be human enough to procreate with Earthlings, otherwise people like Yosho and Tenchi would never have been born, right? (Okay, I'm not a science student, so if I just said something incredibly dumb, then please forgive me.) Heck, even the long lifespan that Juraians are noted for isn't strictly a biological thing, the trees and life water are a factor in that. After all, Lady Funaho is an Earthling, and she's gotta be centuries old now.

Let's see, did I forget anything? Oh yeah, the quotations that were used to label parts 1 to 4 ("Heaven to ocean", etc.) are from Sasami's chant in OAV episode #6.

So what did you think? Please send me your comments and criticism. I'd also appreciate feedback on my other fics, "Confess to You" and "With my love always". (Shameless plugs! Ha ha ha!) Thanks for reading!

Text copyright 1998, Literary Eagle  
(But the characters belong to Pioneer and AIC)


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